Journal Journeys: Northern Ring of Fire
Oct 21st, 2009 by wwftravel
- © Kevin Schafer / WWF-Canon
Naturalist Dr. Mark Brazil traveled to the Pribilof Islands, where we’ll stop on our Northern Ring of Fire expedition. Here’s what he wrote about these islands, which are located off the coast of Alaska:
“The Pribilof Islands were discovered in 1786 by the Russian explorer Gerassim Pribilof. There he successfully located what he was hoping to find: fur seals by the thousands. Tragically, the Russians enslaved the Aleuts pushing them to harvest the seals nearly to the extinction of the seal and the Aleuts. The Aleut population dwindled from about 25,000 on first contact to only 2,000 survivors. St. Paul now is home to 800 Aleuts, the largest such community in the world.
Today, the northern fur seal is protected and cannot be hunted commercially. The Pribilof breeding population now numbers more than 600,000, and they were a major focus during our time on shore this morning. The birdwatchers set off in pursuit of their avian targets and came back with excited tales of time well spent with phalaropes and turnstones, teal and pintail, and a singing male winter wren, one of the last of his isolated island race. Meanwhile we all visited the seal blind to view the fur seal rookery, with some lucky enough to witness a birth. The seabird cliffs were a popular draw as was a walk through the small community and its museum. Arctic fox are common on St. Paul and we managed several sightings during the course of our visit.”
Join WWF on our Northern Ring of Fire expeditions. Part I, Aleutians & the Bering Sea, is scheduled July 25 – August 10, 2001. Part II, Kamchatka & the Kuril Islands, is scheduled August 9-21, 2010.
© Zegrahm Expeditions. Reprinted with permission.
